Sankar!!!!
I got it. Just winding you up.....
I think that composition is as you said more or less like a Javali. However translation makes it sound raw as we cant put it across the way it should be......

On the topic of HKMB and is compositions: I was reading the notations for the daru mAtE (thanks Lji and SujiRam): what language is it in? I assumed it was sanskrit, but in the anupallavi, he uses the phrase 'tAyE gowrI'. I do not think tAyE (mother) is a sanskrit word...is it like the 'vElAyuda' of MD (sanskritizing a South Indian word), or is the composition in Kannada/Telugu?
I am sure CML/DRS will have great explanations!
Ravi

HMB was a relative of my paternal great grandmother and she had a set of compositions written by him in her village of Pattamadai (of the mat fame)

When my folks visited her (I was a less than a month old), she showed my mother the book but unfortunately it was written in an older tamil script which was virtually illegible to my mother. Apparently no one had sung those compositions or even known they existed. My great grandmother agreed to find someone to do the transliteration but she passed away soon after. WE were based in Bombay and both my parents were very busy so the existence of this set of books passed out of our minds. In fact my mother told me about them only two years ago.

Right now no one knows what happened to those books. The house fell into ruin and with some property issues (granduncle never left a will so they are still unresolved to this day although someone we don't know from adam is living in that house) they probably passed on to some rag and bones man.

I consider this loss to be a real tragedy. If anyone knows anybody in Patthamadai my great grandmother's house was right next to the big temple. Any clues will be welcome. If someone comes across (by some miracle of fate) a set of HMB krithis, chances are, some kind soul saved them from ruin.

My great grandmother never learnt music but she could handle krithis like Sankari Samkuru, Koluvamaragatha effortlessly (in navarathri golu settings). My father too never learnt music but he can sing along these krithis as if he had been spending years honing the sangathis.

I incidentally landed on this bulletin board searching for discussions on CM and am amazed at the fervor of the topical discussions. What a wonderful platform to discuss CM in depth!

I wondered whether someone could be kind to share with us audios of the rarely heard rAgamAlikAs bhAgavatar composed for navarAtrI, the pancarAgamAlikA starting with the words, "mangaLa dAyinI mAtangi" and the navAvaraNa rAgamAlikA, "svarNAkarshaNa gaNapatE." The latter includes a stuti to gaNapati followed by each AvaraNa with mention of each of the kumArI dEvatAs of the nine nights of the festival, concluding in a benediction.

Dear all,
last week I happened to meet the great grand daughter of this musical genius - this lady with her daughters live in Bombay in Goregaon, though at the moment there is nobody in the family who is involved in the field of music. I have asked them to let me have the pleasure of seeing some vintage photographs (if they are able to lay their hands on any) and will post them for the benefit of the rasikas.
Hope to expect a great year ahead and May God bless you all with bountiful blessings.

Wow, my grandmother is with me now, and listening to music, she started reminiscing... So, it's anecdote time!!!

When they were kids in Kovilpatti, the bhagavathar came to stay 3 houses away from their house. My great-grandfather, a civil engineer, and hence a big shot, invited him to lunch, and the daughters (my grandmother, and her 3 sisters - the 4th was too young) were asked to sing for the great man. He listened to them sing, and told them that they sing very well, and he would teach them more songs - putting one condition: "I will sing a song only once!"

(slight background - gran was not a native of kovilpatti; greadgranddad's job took him there. They are palakkad iyers from chittoor)

Well, my periya paatti had a wonderful knack of writing music and notion very, very quickly as and when it was sung. Bhagavathar was impressed, and apparently told her, "Ankichi, ippadi ezhudhikkaraye maa.. enakke appadi paattu ezhudha varaadhu!" (My dear, you write so well! I can't wrtie songs so fast myself!"

AFter a few years, my grandmother went to see him before she got married in 1939 (at madras). As soon as she entered, he recognized her instantly and said "Ankichi, eppadi maa irukkai?" (My dear, how are you?) and turned to someone near him (paatti does not remember who) and said "theriyumo, en paattellam laddoo madhiri kanththundaal ival!!!" (you know, she learnt my songs as easily as a laddoo!!)

Paatti says that my periya paatti's daugther still has those notations. I'll try to get hold of them when I go to India...

Cheers
Ninja

Last edited by ninjathegreat on 04 Jun 2007, 10:52, edited 1 time in total.